Box opener



E. J. KENDALL.

BOX OPENER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26, 1921.

1 5, 3 5 Patented Aug. 8, 1922.

:1; nlliiiill J E. (I Kendall.

EDWIN JAMES KENDALL, OF BEAVER COVE, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

BOX OPENER.

Application filed May 26,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN J. KENDALL, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Beaver Cove, in the Province of British Columbia and Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Box Opener; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and relatively inexpensive means whereby boxes and cans and like receptacles having slip covers may readily be opened without the use of special tools and may be repeatedly closed to protect the unused contents and opened from time to time as required without difliculty and without involving any mutilation of the box or container and without modifying the tightness and air excluding characteristics of the box lid or cover, so that goods which are used only at intervals and which must be preserved against the access of air to prevent drying out or otherwise deteriorating may be kept in such a container under conditions giving ready access thereto when required; and with these objects in View the invention consists in a construction. combination and relation of parts of which a preferred embodiment is shown in the drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side view of a box having a construction embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line 2-2. of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a detail view of a portion of the lid or cover detached.

The box 10 which is illustrated in the drawing is of the shallow form or type used for shoe polishes and the like, some of which are of such a character as to necessitate theexclusion of air from the container. and said box is provided with an ordinary slip cover or lid 11 having the usual flange or rim 12 fitting over the upper edge 13 of the box and extending downward to a rib or bead-14 extending outwardly from the wall of the box to serve as the stop.

The flange or rim of the lid or cover is provided at any convenient point with a notch 15 formed by side cuts 16 to provide Specification of Letters Patent.

?atented A11 8, 1922.

1921. Serial N0. 472,631.

an intermediate tongue 17 which is rolled or bent outward from the plane of the flange or rim to provide a lip 17 which is thus spaced slightly from the shoulder or bead of the can or box body to provide an interval into which may be inserted any suitable flat object, such as the end of a pen knife blade, or the edge of a coin such as a penny, a nickle or a dime. Such object after being inserted between the lip and the bead may be turned or twisted slightly to lift the lid or cover from the box. Obviously there is no strain applied to the flange or rim of the lid or cover or to the body of the box by the manipulation of such an object in lifting the lid, and therefore after the desired quantity of the contents of the box has been removed the lid may be replaced and pressed into position to form an air tight joint with the wall of the box. The operation of removing the lid therefore can be performed repeatedly as long as the contents of the box last without injury to either the lid or the box and without affecting the tightness of the fit of the lid upon the box and therefore without detracting from the efliciency of the closure a means of protecting the contents thereof from access by air, dust or moisture.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is A box section. a cover section for slidable connection therewith. one of said sections having stop engageable by the free edge of the other section, the last mentioned section at said free edge being slit inwardly to provide a laterally and outwardly disposed tongue to accommodate an opening instrument between the same and said stop, said tongue having a terminal lip disposed opposite and substantially parallel to the outer wall of the last mentioned section to reinforce the last mentioned section against contracting strain incidental to twisting of said instrument.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN JAMES KENDALL. 

